Area Codes in New Jersey and Some Facts You Should Know About Them

These days, some people believe that are codes are not important anymore and nobody uses them. But the truth is that area codes still matter, and you will definitely notice it if you decide to move to another region. To make sure you don’t get lost in all of these numbers, we prepared for you a short guide for New Jersey area codes. And if you wonder how and why these codes are used, you will find some detailed information as well.

New Jersey area codes and history behind them

At this point, New Jersey uses nine area codes, as well as 3 area code overlay plans. Overlay plans are determining how a specific land will be used and for which purpose it will serve. There are many types of overlays, including environment, heritage, landscape, and other kinds. At first, New Jersey used only one code: area code 201. It was first founded in 1947, but in 10 years, some major changes took place, and the population of New Jersey started growing.

In 1957, a new area code has appeared after the 201 area code was divided to form a new area code which is 609. After more than thirty years, a third area code 908 has also been created. But how many codes do exist right now and where they are used? Here is a list of area codes in New Jersey:

201 and 551: Jersey City and Hackensack;

609: Atlantic City and Trenton;

908: Elizabeth and Summit;

973 and 862: Newark and Peterson;

856: Vineland, Cherry Hill, and Camden;

734 and 848: Long Branch and New Brunswick.

Why do we need area codes anyway?

At this point, over 680 area codes exist in the United States, and only 125 are used right now. Every area code has around 7,900,000 available within the same area. Of course, not all numbers can be used. Some prefixed are not accessible since they are used by citizens and can’t be reserved for someone else, and good examples of those are 911 and 411. All areas have specific codes assigned to a specific location, which also called a rate center.

Whenever a specific location gets a certain area code, other areas are not allowed to use it. This way, all rate centers have their own area codes that are used only by them. To create more prefixes for a certain area, already existing area codes are split in order for more codes to appear. That is how smaller zones are created.

But what do you have to do if another code is needed in the place where you live? If you are changing the landing phone to a cell phone and move to another place, it is fine to keep the area code as long as you live in the same geographic location. Otherwise, other changes might be applied.